During the terrifying spring of 2020, as COVID-19 paralyzed the nation and hospitals buckled, Katherine Stearns was on the front lines in Windham Hospital’s emergency room.
Stearns works as the lead housekeeper at the hospital. She remembers everything about the early days of the pandemic as “frantic,” from the burning sensation the Purell left on her hands to the patients who went from just fine to intubated in an instant.
“It was scary, like, really scary, to watch that,” said Stearns. “We were in the middle of it.”
Despite being touted as “health care heroes,” some housekeepers say the benefits they have rightfully earned have only come after painstaking demands for recognition, if they’ve come at all.